Events

The Evergreen State College will host a debate on marriage equality on Friday, October 19 at 7:00 p.m. in the Longhouse. The event is free and open to the public and is offered to the campus and local community as a public service. A live web stream of the event will make the debate available to people across Washington State.

Debating the issue are Andrew Koppelman, John Paul Stevens Professor of Law at Northwestern University, and Maggie Gallagher, co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage and the author of four books on marriage, including (with John Corvino) Debating Same-Sex Marriage. Member of the Faculty Jose Gomez will moderate.

Hosting a debate on marriage equality is timely. This issue will be on the ballot on November 6. Those interested in this topic can find out more about Referendum 74 through the on-line voter’s guide provided by the Secretary of State.

On Thursday dozens of restaurants in the area will donate all or part of their profits from the day’s sales to help families and co-workers of police officers killed in the line of duty.

‘Dine Out to Remember Our Fallen’ will benefit the WAStateCOPS organization.

Last year the event helped raise more than $30,000 to help complete the two Lakewood Police Memorials at the Steel Street Forza Coffee shop in Lakewood and the Lakewood Police headquarters.

In King County the central location for the event will be the Puerto Vallarta restaurant in West Seattle and in Pierce County the central location with be The Ram restaurant in Lakewood. However there are participating restaurants in nearly all local neighborhoods and cities. The complete list is at dineouttoremember.org and on Facebook.

7-Eleven stores throughout the country will mark National Coffee Day – Thursday, Sept. 29 – with National CofFREE Day, its own caffeinated version of a celebration.

Between 7 and 11 a.m. everyone can make a morning stop at participating 7-Eleven stores to receive a free medium-size cup of hot coffee, cappuccino or latte, while supplies last.

Of all its proprietary products, 7-Eleven sells more fresh-brewed coffee than anything else – 1 million cups each day. That’s more than 10,000 pots of coffee an hour every hour of every day of the year.

Do you know a Latino business setting an example for excellence in the neighborhood?

Starting earlier this month and until October 16th Allstate insurance along with Univision-Seattle and KOMO Newsradio will be taking nominations for the 2011 Latino Business Awards.

Either companies across the area will be selected and spotlighted as award recipients.

The weekly award will recognize the dedication to entrepreneurial spirit and community efforts displayed by Latino-owned businesses in the Puget Sound area.

Criteria used to select recipients includes business and income growth, innovation, community involvement and excellence in the industry.

“This is an exciting time for the Puget Sound area as we acknowledge the talent and leadership of the Latino business community," said Kim Barger, Human Resources Manager, Allstate Insurance Company, Northwest Region in a written news release. “Through their vision and hard work, they are helping Puget Sounds’ economy grow. It is this type of responsible entrepreneurship that will create jobs and will benefit their employees, customers and communities.”

This is one of the easiest food drives to participate in! Just gather any non-perishable food items you might have in a bag and leave it at your mailbox.

And that’s it! Your donation will be delivered to a local food bank in need.

“May 14 is the one day in the year when letter carriers take control of the conversation about hunger in America, making a loud-and-clear case for providing a chance for millions of families, and millions of children, to have a hunger-free summer,” said National Association of Letter Carriers President Fredric V. Rolando. “Our hard work and sacrifice will not go unnoticed, I assure you.”

On the University of Washington campus, those who live in the Greek community can be known to be some of the most competitive students on campus. Every Greek Chapter supports a charity and annually hosts activities to raise money for their cause. Often these activities include sport tournaments, dance offs, or team-building activities that other houses vote to become involved in. However, the competition doesn’t just end in the games, it includes fundraising as well.

Since 1986 the Delta Tau Delta fraternity has been hosting Miss Greek which supports their local philanthropy, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. This organization is comprised of world renowned scientists and researchers who work to prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS, and other life threatening illnesses. Each sorority that chooses to participate nominates one member from their chapter who prepares all year for the event that takes place in April. Since its beginning in 1986 this annual event has raised over 1.2 million dollars for the cause.

This time of the year the women are in their crucial fundraising stage.

The Longhouse Education and Cultural Center at The Evergreen State College will host its annual two-day holiday art fair December 10th and 11th at the Longhouse on campus. The hours of the fair are Friday, December 10th 11AM – 6PM and Saturday, December 11th 10AM- 5PM. Admission is free. Friday, parking costs $2.00.

The fair will feature over 30 Native artists selling original work in a wide variety of price ranges to appeal to every budget. Artists will be selling jewelry, clothing, textiles, weaving, carvings, games, prints, paintings, cards and more. Frybread and Indian tacos will be available for sale. On Friday, December 10, Lummi singer and songwriter Chenoa Egawa will perform at 2 PM.